The Virginia Colony in the United States America - Research Paper Example

The Virginia Colony in the United s America October 24, By 1630 there were six colonies, including Virginia. Initially there were highlevels of mortality until colonist began to adapt to living conditions. Due to economic conditions improving, the lack of wars and religious disputes Europeans immigrants, indentured servants and freemen all became attracted to the possibility of staking claims and settling in the new American colonies (Rabushka, 2002). Colonists enjoyed abundance and variety in their diets, the lowered incidence and spread of communicable diseases and epidemics attributed to the low densities of the colonies. Forestry was plentiful and provided for heating and the typical Colonial family would have eight children with the mortality rate of infants being lower than that of England. By the mid-1600’s established colonies were being considered lands of opportunity’s Most were farmers with farms over 100 acres and crops of grain outnumbered those of tobacco. Land was owned and to encourage immigration land was actually given away to immigrants or they were charged very little. The colonies depended on imports throughout the seventeenth century. Accounts were kept using the English sterling, pounds, schillings, and pence though they were actually very few sterling coins in the colonies as they lacked the gold and silver to mint the coins (65). Coins were obtained through trade with Spanish and French colonies and it was not until 1690 that the first paper money was issued. Commodities were also used as forms of payment. The increasing population necessitated a need for defense against intruders and Indians, public roads, schools, prisons, ports and public buildings. Rabushka focuses on the roots and principal beginnings of taxation and describes Virginia as a special case in the seventeenth century and an early example of a Royal colony (73). The colony originally fared poorly with outbreaks of malaria, an Indian massacre in 1622 and a stalled and stifled population growth. With less than 1500 inhabitants Virginia needed a plan to finance the cost of a Royal Virginia government. Legislature for Virginia authorized a poll tax on males over 16 and those households with slaves and servants paid a poll tax on both, regardless of sex. This policy seemed to apply to the poorer segments of the community and was abolished for a period of time in 1645 and replaced with taxing livestock which was paid with the major crop, tobacco. Rabishka’s journal article in ‘Policy Review’ does an excellent job of explaining the beginnings of taxation in Colonial Virginia. Richard Davis considers himself a scholar of early Virginia literary history (Bush, 1974). His intention was to refute a statement made by Adams that law and politics were the only distinguishing and characteristics thoughts of the Virginia mind. He documents generations of Virginian’s known for literature, poetry, letter writing, book collecting, and fiction and despite his original intent, politics and law. John Smith is described as Virginia’s first major writer though this source does not consider Smith’s literary achievement. William Byrd and James Reid are also reviewed by Davis. Reid constantly contributed to the Virginia Gazette articles and opinions of the time period representing different populations of Colonial Virginia. All of John Smiths’ writings argue against the immigration of delinquents (Efalu, 2000). Smith compares planters in Virginia to those in England and responding to the question posed by King James as to how misery in Virginia can be mitigated, Smith responds, “with sufficient workmen…to rectify a commonwealth with debauched people is impossible, (Efalu, 2000).” While historians have generally described Colonial Virginia as a haven for economic freedom and competition Smiths’ writings depict a different attitude making it difficult to reconcile one with the other. While historians have recorded facts visible and known, literary figures through their writing have recorded elements of thought and spirit. Colonial texts not only influence but also limit our discussion of these texts (Read, 1994). Smith’s most accomplished work is thought to be one of the least coherent of Colonial texts. Read notes that Smith seemed to use a haphazard collection of sources, (429), his work contains many contradictions, while using many second and third hand sources of information. Attempting to narrate the history of Jamestown was perhaps too ambitious an undertaking for Smith as this was one of the most chaotic settlements in the history of colonization. William Byrd II kept a meticulous diary, often recording his dreams, nightmarish at times these thoughts and dreams paralleled the life of Byrd in Colonial Virginia. Susan Smith attempts to correlate the everyday life of William Byrd to the traumatic dreams described in his writing’s (49). The public view of Byrd has long been that of a confident and self-assured Virginian of the planter class. Analysis of his carefully kept diaries reveals much about his Colonial life. He first began his diaries at the age of 35 and they are an important literary work worth study as they detailed every aspect of the daily life of an English gentleman. Many readers are discouraged or tend to quit reading as the writings can be quite mundane as surely life must have been, being filled with the ritualistic and necessary daily tasks. What has interested Smith are the dreams contained within the diaries recorded by Byrd and attempting to explain them through the comparison of events in Colonial Virginia during that time and events in Byrd’s own personal life. Byrd’s writing is able to convey emotions such as despair over the death of his father and prose and metaphor are not often used. Byrd’s diary continues once he leaves Virginia for London and he more frequently refers only to dreams. One must wonder and question were these ideas or truly dreams experienced by Byrd which may be why historians have often questioned Byrd’s mental health, especially in the later years of his diary. Colonial Virginia leaders were a very important part in the development of the culture of Americans. There is a lack of literature that deals with or focuses on Virginia’s culture or climate of education, newspaper and magazine circulations and reader qualities, reading of books and their ownership. George Smart undertook a study to determine the content of what he approximated to be about one hundred private libraries in Colonial Virginia (25). Smart was interested not only in the books that were contained in these libraries but also their size and to use this analysis to make certain conclusions about Colonial Virginia and literature. French books contained in Virginia libraries were of special interest in his study. This would suggest the extent of French influence on Virginia society and also give information concerning learning, literary, religious and scientific interests (27). Most of the information about the private libraries in Colonial Virginia was located through wills and country records. Most lists were of no use, only seeming to demonstrate that there were many who owned books during the Colonial period. Study was further hampered as many original records were destroyed during the civil war. Only two libraries date after the Revolution and owners represent all walks of life. English literature accounted for only about 13% of the books and those libraries before the 1700’s contained twice as many religious works. The larger libraries belonged to Ralph Carter, William Fleming, John Waller and Ralph Wormely. These libraries were also found to contain a larger percent of classic and literary works. The most commonly found authors included Shakespeare, Chaucer, Dryden, Rowe and James Thomson. The most commonly found authors support the idea that there was diversity in the literary interests of Virginian’s. Novels were well represented as were plays and poems. The most popular of the classical writers was Ovid. Plato, Aristotle and Homer appeared though they were Greek. Aesop’s fables were also very popular. Dictionaries and grammar books were common though German books very rare. It is obvious from Smart’s study that Virginian’s were indeed intellectuals though because of the few amount of libraries it is unlikely that there was widespread knowledge and reading of the classics and French in Virginia. This particular journal article is of interest today as it allows us to better understand the literary interest of Colonial Virginian’s and see that they are very similar to our interests today. We are fascinated with analyzing and interpreting many of the classic and those such as Ovid are frequently those whose work we study to get a better understanding of literary concepts and themes in literature. It is clear that Colonial Virginian’s did have an interest in literary arts and the obtainment of knowledge though living conditions and plantation life would have likely stifled these desires for the lower classes of citizens and would likely have been out of the question for slaves and servants to desire higher learning. References Bush Jr., Sargent. "Literature and Society In Early Virginia, 1608-1840 (Book)." Early American Literature 8.3 (1974): 312. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=f836b691-a6b2-4003-890f-4b453d43f96d%40sessionmgr10&vid=4&hid=117 Efalu, Paul A. "Rethinking The Discourse Of Colonialism In Economic Terms: Shakespeares The Tempest, Captain John Smiths Virginia Narratives, And The English Response To Vagrancy." Shakespeare Studies 28.(2000): 85. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&hid=4&sid=5dc54ea7-e689-48f7-801d-2b4f7f86478e%40sessionmgr15 Rabushka, Alvin. "The Colonial Roots Of American Taxation, 1607-1700." Policy Review 114 (2002): 61. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=fd50f337-e784-4ef9-9012-369191c8b431%40sessionmgr112&vid=11&hid=121 Read, David. "Colonialism And Coherence: The Case Of Captain John Smiths General Historie Of Virginia." Modern Philology 91.4 (1994): 428. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. Retrieved from ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&hid=4&sid=5dc54ea7-e689-48f7-801d-2b4f7f86478e%40sessionmgr15 Sleeper-Smith, Susan. "The Dream As A Tool For Historical Research: Reexamining Life In Eighteenth-Century Virginia Through The Dreams Of A Gentleman: William Byrd, II, 1674–1744." Dreaming 3.1 (1993): 49-68. PsycARTICLES. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&hid=121&sid=32927685-2d0a-48de-abbc-df2724d5a82f%40sessionmgr104 Smart, George K. "Private Libraries In Colonial Virginia." American Literature 10.1 (1938): 24. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&hid=101&sid=5efd2f39-1b32-4836-9338-59add613a6c1%40sessionmgr110 Read More